Flames Of Lies
by AylaxxAvaxx
Summary: They don't really exist do they? Happy endings? Lies and pain make up the fabric of what we are. For both human and vampire. Normal book couples and OCxOC. Currently T may change to M
1. Prologue

Prologue

It's funny. How easily a mind can be manipulated, I mean. How some times, you'll believe anything, just to avoid the pain of being hurt. But it always ends up worse. Worse than it could have been in the first place. Some times avoiding the truth, avoiding the lies. Sometimes, it causes more pain than its worth.

Everything will change. Spring to Summer. Autumn to Winter. Blossom will bloom, then it will fall. Children will grow, some faster than others. Night will become day. Day after day. People grow. Or rather they should. Humans grow. I don't. I miss it. The thrill of birthdays, no matter how much I have always despised them. Telling how many years have passed, that's what I miss the most. Time just feels so slow now.

Times have changed so much. Against my better judgement, I have changed with them. The fragile human child dissapeared. The beauty of the human me vanished. I miss it. But apparently this was supposed to happen. This was my only future. The life of a vampire. The life I could not turn my back on. The life I deserved.

What I had done to deserve it I don't know. I thought, I thought that I was kind to them. That I caused no trouble. _he_ said I thought wrong. That I hurt them. I made them hurt. _I_ caused more pain than I was worth. _He_ told me they hated me. _He_ fed me with lies. _He_ told me I was given away, they didn't want me any more. He being Aro. They being my family. Or, at least, I thought they were.

People like Aro, and now me as well. They survive on power. Knowing people are afraid of them, We see the pain and sadness we cause but are too ignorant to stop. I can't be that any more. I can't hurt people any longer. People I should protect. People who don't know about us. About what we are. Innocent humans who have made the correct assumptions and cannot be allowed to live. Destroying them was my job. Not any longer. I won't do it. I need to go home. Where ever that may be.

Home is where the heart is. Yeah right. If your heart is frozen, what then? Even if your heart was beating, how do you choose if you are torn in two? And then, what do you do if you can't go anywhere? Because your not wanted anywhere. What do you do if wherever you go, no matter how hard you try not to, all you do is cause pain?

How do you figure out where you belong? How, when you don't seem to fit in anywhere?


	2. My Own Beginning

1. My own beginning

Flames thundered around me. The cries of the young woman echoed in my ears. The man nearby lay on the floor, the smoke suffocating him. The trembling woman's charred voice spiralled around me. The echo was loud enough for anyone outside to hear.

I wasn't crying. I didn't flinch at the flames. I didn't see the problem. I couldn't work out why the woman was in so much pain.

Her cries were not for herself. They were not screaming save me. They were screaming a name I had never heard. They were screaming 'save Acacia.' I jumped alert suddenly as a crash came from behind me. The crib I was in had begun to burn.

"Acacia!" The woman's voice called again. The words seemed to be searching for something. I scanned my fresh new memory to figure out who she was.

My mind suddenly flashed the memory I had been searching for. The fire. The woman. The woman, she was my mother. The man, my father. The fire, it had started seconds before I was born.

"Edward stay there." A new voice reached my ears. A male voice. More calm than mothers.

"Ewad?" I stuttered. My voice startled me. I was only about half an hour old. I could already speak? Well kind of.

"Who ever is there, please save her. Acacia, save my daughter." Mother's voice suddenly stopped. I could no longer hear her straining for breath. She was gone.

I wanted to cry. I should have cried. But I just sat. Still and silent. The flames around me scolding me. The little girl, pale skinned and lonely. Like something out of a fantasy book.

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came this time. The only sound I heard was the roar of the flames. The fury of them seemed to make sense to me in an odd way. They seemed in pain. They seemed upset, angered by something, or some one.

Footsteps interrupted my thoughts. The steps were fast and they grew louder as they grew closer.

I saw a shadow through the flames. It was too fast to follow. The next thing I knew, two cold hands picked me up out of the cot. I reached back for the flames. I heard the person who owned the cold hands gasp. I tilted my head as I looked at them, my eyes focused on the outline of the figure. It was a man, possibly the same man who's voice I had heard before.

I ignored them. I turned and reached back for the fire. It was apparent what I was reaching for. I felt the man's grip on me tighten slightly. I spun around as more footsteps approached.

"Carlisle we need to leave." I peered around the man who held me to see another man. One that looked only a boy. He was younger than this man, but only slightly. "Did Alice even say why this girl was different?"

"Carlil?" I stammered again.

"I think I just found two reasons." Carlisle looked down at me again. I looked up at him. "Edward, look at her eyes."

"Huh?" I whimpered as the boy walked over. He looked more serious and slightly scarier than Carlisle. I buried my face in Carlisle's jacket.

"It's okay, Acacia. He won't hurt you." Carlisle's soft voice reached my ears and slowly I uncovered my face and turned from him, to look at Edward.

"Her eyes are the same colour as the flames." Edward's eyes looked at mine then looked at the flames, they looked back to me again in shock.

"She was reaching for the flames just before you came."

"Edwad. Carlil." I stuttered the names once again.

"She is not even an hour old. How is it possible for her to talk?" Edward was watching me in shock. I just looked up at Carlisle.

"How is it possible she is not burnt?" He backfired at Edward. His calmness, it seemed, me and Edward were finding annoying. I looked away and reached for the fire again.

"Not burnt? Not possible." Edward folded his arms. His eyes looked at what I was reaching toward. "Fire?" He whispered.

"I would of said the same. When I asked Alice why this one human baby was so special, she just smiled and told me that I would find out." Carlisle looked at Edward. "She certainly is different."

"We should hurry up and leave." Edward looked away toward the door. "The fire department may have seen the smoke."

"Fire." I said. My high, piano-like voice startled them. "Pane. Fire." I pointed at the flames again. "Afraid."

"Is she trying to tell us the fire is in pain?" Edward looked back at me. I nodded quickly.

"How would she know that?" Carlisle also looked back at me. His golden eyes were wide in wonder.

"Maybe it is because she was born in the fire." Edward spoke firmly. "She might seem to understand it."

"Understand fire?" Carlisle didn't look away from my eyes. It was kind of scary. The shock in them. I quickly looked away from him. My arms reached for Edward this time. "I think she wants you. I think the shock in my eyes is scaring her. You must seem a lot more relaxed to her."

"Oh." Edward took me out of Carlisle's arms and held me in his. "We should go." He looked at the flames.

"Fire." I repeated.

"We can't stop it being in pain, Acacia. I'm sorry." He looked down at me. "She seems to be quite alert for a really, newborn human."

"I agree." Carlisle nodded. "Let's go." With those last two words Carlisle dissapeared from my view.

"Come on kid." Edward said to me. He suddenly began to run. In less than second we were outside. I froze in shock. He laughed at my reaction. "It's all right."

"Human baby remember?" Carlisle was waiting for us outside. I looked around, I knew why no one had heard my mother's screams. We were in the middle of a forest. A house in between a river and the woods. The other side of the water the woods continued. There appeared to be no town or people for miles. How did these two find me?

"Oh!" Edward looked at Carlisle in alert. His voice startled me, I was slightly scared again.

"What is it?" Carlisle jumped at Edward's sudden outburst.

"I just realised, I haven't been reading her mind. I just got a random part of her thoughts."

"Odd. Can you read her mind now?"

"No."

"Mind." I smiled. Repeating Carlisle's words.

"You really are an odd human aren't you Acacia?" Carlisle looked down at me. My mind was not so alert now. _Maybe_. I thought. I felt Edward's arms shake as he laughed.

"I think she has calmed down. Maybe when her mind is less stressed or confused, or scared, etcetera, her mind is more open." Edward explained his idea to Carlisle.

"So when she is less alert, you can read her mind?" Carlisle questioned Edward.

"It would seem that way." He smiled.

I watched the two talk. I rolled my eyes and hit Edward's arm. _Ow! _His skin is like a rock! I looked down at my throbbing hand. I felt myself whimper slightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You'll hurt yourself." He sighed, shaking his head at me. He chuckled at my thought once again.

_I guessed._ I said in my head.

"She's quite sarcastic for some one who does not have the slightest idea what is going on." He smiled at Carlisle.

"Who _should_ not." Carlisle corrected. "Why what did she say?" He looked down at me.

"She said she guessed." Edward snorted with laughter.

I had figured out he could read my mind now. _It's not funny, that really hurt. What are you rock?_

"Close, Acacia. Close." He laughed again.

_What do you mean? _I had also figured out that people kept calling me Acacia because it was my name.

"Tell you later."

"Let's go home." Carlisle told Edward who nodded.

"Ready to meet Alice? Be prepared, Acacia." Edward looked at me. "Come on then." With that they started to run.

It made me feel a bit dizzy. I felt myself falling asleep as they ran. I closed my eyes and buried my head in Edward's jacket. I slowly drifted off to sleep.

Just perfect. The first time I sleep. The first dream I have. Nearly tears me to pieces.

I was stood next to some one I didn't know. A tall boy, with blonde curly hair. On the other side of him was a shorter girl. Her hair was black and pixie-like. I saw nothing familiar about them. Then I noticed one thing. Their eyes. They were exactly the same golden colour that shone in Carlisle and Edward's eyes.

I looked behind me. Edward was stood there, a girl, who looked about the same age stood next to him. Her hair was brown, dark brown, darker than Edwards. I saw Carlisle and a woman stood the other side of Edward, the woman's hair was just a bit lighter than the girl stood beside Edward. Finally nest to the dark haired girl I saw a tall dark-haired boy. His hand was holding the girl's hand who was on the other side of him. She was utterly beautiful. She had golden hair and her skin was pure white. It took me this long to figure out something. All the people around me were like this. I Saw a puddle next to my feet and looked at my reflection in it. It was like theirs. I wasn't entirely sure it was me I was seeing.

Light brown hair with light blonde streaks in it. Pure white skin and rose red lips. Then I was startled again. My eyes were flame red. My mind sent itself back to my birth. The fire. The screaming. My head suddenly echoed with screaming. It spiralled around in my head, seeming as though it would never stop.

I awoke quickly. I clung tightly to Edward. He had stopped running when I had begun to squirm. My eyes were locked shut. I did not scream and I did not cry. I just clung more tightly than before. I was scared.

"Acacia?" Edward looked at me, concern in his gold eyes. "Carlisle, Acacia is upset. She seems terrified."

"Hurry up and get her home. We'll find out when we get there."

"Her mind is closed again."

"Then we should hurry." Carlisle answered.

_Sorry._ I calmed my mind down just enough so Edward heard my thoughts. I felt his pat my head.

"It's all right. You have nothing to apologise for."

I clung to him for the rest of the time they ran. I did not look up when we stopped. I heard Carlisle open a door ahead of us and Edward walked through.

"Is that her?" A girl's voice reached my ears. I flinched and held on tighter to Edward.

"Yes Alice." Carlisle said from behind us. "Her name is Acacia."

"What's wrong with her, Edward? She looks scared." Alice seemed nice. But I was still to scared from my dream to look at her.

"She is." A male voice said. That voice sounded as though it came from next to Alice. "What happened?"

"Not sure. She was asleep then she started squirming. She woke up and she hasn't looked up out of Edward's jacket yet." Carlisle explained to them.

_Nightmare. Edward I'm scared. _I relaxed my mind again.

"It's okay now. What happened?" Edward spoke gently.

"She relaxed her mind to talk to you?" Carlisle asked Edward. I felt Edward nod.

"Acacia, tell me what happened. It will be all right." Edward was calmer than before. He was obviously trying to calm me down.

_Screaming. It wouldn't stop. It won't stop._ I told him in my mind.

"No one is screaming now. It's quiet. Listen." He stopped, letting me hear the silence. The only thing I heard was steady breathing all around me. Then some more footsteps. "Hello Esme."

"Hi Edward. This must be the little girl." A woman's soft relaxed voice came from behind me.

"No screaming." Edward whispered in my ear. I built up all my courage and turned my face to where the three new voices came from. I immediately froze. It was them. The boy and girl. The ones I had been stood next to in my dream. The other woman, she was the one stood next Carlisle.

"Creepy eyes." The boy whispered.

"Jasper!" The girl elbowed him. I immediately knew who that was. It was the first voice that I had heard when we came inside. Alice. Edward had asked me if I was ready to meet her. I guessed it was because she was so perky.

"He is right Alice. Her eyes are red." The other woman spoke. I guessed she was Esme.

"Jasper still shouldn't of called her creepy." Alice seemed nice. I reached out to her. Edward's grip on me tightened.

_Please? She seems nice._

"Acacia." Edward stammered.

"Please Edward." Alice pleaded him. Edward's grip loosened again. I reached out to her once again.

"Fine." He sighed.

"Thank you." Alice picked me up out of Edward's arms and twirled me gracefully into hers. "You are really light."

"She is bound to be to you, Alice." Jasper commented.

"Jaspa. Alice." I attempted to say their names.

"Sure, she pronounces Alice's name properly." Edward rolled his eyes.

"Esma." I said.

"Jealous much Edward?" Alice laughed.

"Stop arguing you two." Jasper shook his head. He looked at me. I was scared. He squatted down so he was at my height. "No need to be scared, Acacia."

_Tell Jasper I said I'm confused_. I looked at Edward.

"She said she is confused."

"That makes two of us." A new deep voice commented. "Jasper, you are really calm considering the little squirt is human."

"Her name is not squirt, Emmett, it's Acacia. But you're right."

_Who?_ I looked at the girl stood beside Emmett. The final couple from my dreams. Minus the girl with Edward.

"Rosalie." Edward told me.

_She is pretty._ I smiled at her. She smiled back.

"I don't think she needs any more of a confidence boost Acacia." He laughed.

_Jasper. _That was all I said.

"Sorry. Not now." Edward told me. Alice's arms loosened. I struggled.

"She wants Jasper." Alice said. "He won't hurt her, Edward."

"Huh?" Jasper jumped at Alice's words. "Me?" I nodded.

"But Alice-" Edward complained.

"Edward. Give him a chance. Preferably before Rosalie. She probably won't put her down." Emmett commented. I heard a large echo from the corner. Like two rocks clashing. Rosalie had hit him.

"I take Emmett's side." Carlisle added. He was probably the most in charge of everyone.

_Edward. Jasper. Please_. I looked at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm outnumbered. Even by the baby." Edward sighed. "Fine."

"Thank you." Alice smiled and handed me to Jasper. He was still. Frozen.

"Uh. Thanks." He said to Edward, taking me off Alice. He looked down at me. Then he looked at Edward, he was telling something to him, but using his mind. He and probably the rest of them, knew how to control their thoughts.

"Doesn't seem it." Edward sighed.

Something suddenly pierced through my ears. Screaming. I clung tightly to Jasper. He held me firmly.

"Edward? What's wrong with her?" Jasper's voice shook, concerned.

"Not sure. I have an idea though." He looked at Emmett and Rosalie. "What is on the T.V.?"

"Most haunted, why?" Rosalie answered.

"Turn it off please Rose. It's the screaming. She had a nightmare. It was basically just screaming, she said." Edward sighed. "I think I know whose. Carlisle she said mother, screaming. It won't stop."

"Hmm. The only way to stop that is to remove her mother from her memory. But that would mean removing the fire."

"Hey, she calmed down."

"Television is off." Rosalie walked back in.

_Edward. Tell him sorry._ I said in my head.

"She says sorry, Jasper. That she made you jump."

"I don't mind." I felt him shrug. I lifted my head up and looked at him. My eyes wide.

_What did Emmett mean "why is Jasper so calm when she is human"?_

"Oh." Edward rubbed the back of his neck. "Ask Emmett."

_I can't_. I thought sarcastically.

"Ask me what?" Emmett said suspiciously.

"She wants to know what you meant by Jasper being so calm when she is human."

"Ah."

_Emmett. Tell him I said tell me. Oh and I want Rosalie._

"She said tell her. Oh and that she wants Rose."

"Carlisle would be better explaining really Acacia. You do realise that Rose won't give you back to Jasper right?" Emmett said sarcastically. I shrugged as Rose stood on his foot. She picked me up out of Jasper's arms.

"How about Carlisle explains later?" Rosalie said to me softly. I shrugged.

_At least Carlisle might actually tell me._

"Relax Acacia." Edward told me.

_I'm tired. But I'm scared._

"There is no need to be scared. Nothing will hurt you."

_I'm scared for the fire. It was angry. _"It was in pain." My high-pitched voice spoke. It was a shock for most of them minus Edward and Carlisle.

"When you said that before I said there was nothing we could do."

"I know. Sorry."

"Will you stop saying sorry."

_Sorry. _I said in my mind.

"Very funny, kid."

"Sleepy." I lay down in Rosalie's arms and gently closed my eyes..

"You finished her room right, Esme?" I heard Rosalie say.

"Yes, it is on the top floor. Next door to Alice's room." Esme said calmly.

"I'll take her." Rosalie insisted.

"All right." Carlisle said.

Rosalie moved nearly as fast as Edward. Within moments we were in a large rose red box room. A cot in front off Rosalie. She layed me down in it.

"Goodnight." She smiled. Stroked my forehead then left the room.

_Edward. Rose come back._

"Rosalie. She wants you to stay with her for a little while." I heard Edward's voice say.

"Okay." Then Rosalie appeared by my side. "I'll stay for a little while okay?"

"Thank yu." I mumbled and I slowly fell asleep again.


	3. What Are You?

2. What are you?

It was the same dream from a month earlier, when Edward brought me home, the first part anyway. It was me stood beside Jasper. I seemed close to him. I noticed something ahead of us this time. A lot of people in black cloaks. They seemed angry. My mind snapped alert suddenly and I shouted a name I had never heard. Not yet anyway.

"Bella!" My voice was different. It was more music-like. Like the keys sound of the piano. It was mesmerising to me. But the dream me, she didn't seem any different.

"On it, Cia!" The girl stood next to Edward shouted. I saw spikes hit a shield-like invisible cloak in front of Jasper.

"Thanks." Jasper replied. His eyes flickered to me. Then back ahead of him.

"Acacia!" Edward called behind me. I was immediately separated from the me in the dream. I watched in wonder as the slim figure jolted to the trees and round the entire family.

"Jacob, back up!" Her voice called. I saw a wolf in the trees back up slightly. As soon as she came to a skidding, yet graceful, stop next to Jasper. "Stay still." She called to the wolf, who had now been joined by a lot more wolves. "Don't move forward. If anything, step back!"

I watched as the wolves obeyed. She seemed more in control than Carlisle did to me. Which was odd. I noticed a new person there now. A little girl. Stood beside the dream Acacia. I watched as the girl took her hand and the dream me held it protectively.

"No one move." I repeated. The me now was completely dazzled by her. The dream me, her beauty, her voice, her authority. It all seemed amazing.

"Why?" Emmett asked.

"Wait and see, big brother." She smirked as Emmett snarled. He was impatient. Suddenly my dream self clicked her fingers. A shield of fire formed around the family and wolves. It was in the exact place that she had ran.

"Whoa." Emmett stuttered.

"Amazing." Carlisle added.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Jasper asked.

"I don't always have my head stuck in a book you know Jazz!"

I awoke with a start. Alice was sitting on the chair near the cot, staring aimlessly out of the window. Her expression was worried.

"Alice." I echoed the words from last night. I made her jump.

"Morning sweetie." She smiled at me cheerfully. "Did you sleep well this time?"

"M." I nodded as she picked me up.

"Let's get you dressed then." She smiled and took me over to a set of drawers. She took out a small red dress and dressed me in it.

"Fire." I clapped at the colour of the dress. Alice smiled absently.

"Yup." She sighed as she looked at me. "Come on then." She picked me up again and skipped down the stairs. To be greeted by Carlisle, Esme, Edward and Jasper. Rosalie and Emmett were in the next room. Emmett was shouting at the television.

"Em fire." I said to Carlisle as he took me from Alice.

"She says Emmett is angry." Edward said from the piano.

"Just at the football, Acacia." Carlisle smiled. " She is more relaxed today then?"

"Considering that she was born in a fire. She has been relatively calm for the past two weeks." Edward joked. Jasper smiled. As did Esme and Carlisle. Alice didn't appear to be listening.

"Jasper, what wong wif Alice?" I asked him, reaching toward him with my small arms. Carlisle handed me to him.

"Nothing, Cia. Just a bit dizzy." He reassured me.

"Bella." The name Jasper called me reminded me of the dream. Alice's head snapped up.

"What did you just say, Acacia?"

"Bella." I looked at Edward. _Tell her, in my dream there was a girl with us, her name was Bella, she was stood beside you, Edward. There was also a little girl, stood next to me. She looked like you, Edward._

"Not funny." Edward pretended to laugh.

"Not joke." I folded my arms, making Jasper laugh.

"What is it?" Alice looked at me, her eyes wide.

"She said that she saw a girl called Bella in her dreams. She was stood beside me." Edward sighed. "She's only a kid. She probably got it wrong."

"What if she didn't?" Alice did not move her eyes from mine.

"What?"

"It's really far away but that name keeps popping up in my...dreams. It is not any time soon. In human time."

"What are you talking about, Alice?" Carlisle looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"17 years on Acacia's birthday." Alice smiled. Jasper looked down at me, confused. "Tell you later, Jasper."

"That reminded me of something. Hopefully not Acacia." Edward mumbled.

"Too bad." I laughed.

"I think it did remind her." Jasper smiled at me.

"Do you even know what I am talking about Jasper?" Edward growled.

"Stop it!" I was getting used to them growling now. But I didn't like it when anyone growled or hissed at Jasper or Alice.

"Sorry kid." Edward smiled at me.

"Humph." I looked away from Edward and nestled my face in Jasper's shirt.

"Carlisle." Jasper looked up from me.

"All right. How I explain this to a baby I don't know." Carlisle rubbed the back of his neck in thought.

"She's very advanced for a baby remember that."

"I know. That's what concerns me." Carlisle looked from me to Jasper. "Though she may be intelligent she lacks the instinct to stay away from you. You are more dangerous than us, but in the morning you are the first one she reaches for."

"I know. That puzzles me as well." Jasper sighed.

"Why is she so calm around some one most humans stay away from?" Carlisle sighed.

"When you think about it. The only one she flinched at was us Carlisle." Edward pointed out. "When we saved her."

"She flinched from you because you looked so serious when you walked in." Carlisle laughed.

"And from you because she shock in your eyes scared her. She wouldn't let me give her to you or anyone till she reached for Alice." Edward backfired.

"Back to the point." Jasper said calmly. "I just got hit by her. I'd appreciate it if you just told her, so she doesn't hurt herself trying to hit me again."

"Right, sorry. She tried to hit Edward. She really hurt her hand." Carlisle pointed out.

"Caril." I mumbled into Jaspers shirt.

"I think she wants you to get on with it." Alice giggled.

"Right. Sorry."

"God, Carlisle. You say sorry more than her." Edward rolled his eyes. "She says it a lot."

"Acacia?" I turned around as Carlisle said my name. My flaming eyes appearing from the blue fabric of Jasper's T-Shirt. "Has Jasper or Alice, or Rose ever told you about vampires?"

"No." I shook my head. "But Big brother did."

"Which one?"

"Emmett."

"What did he tell you about them?"

"Father." I rolled my eyes as I spoke. My words appeared to shock Carlisle. None of them had heard me say that before. But Carlisle smiled. "I can no tewl you."

"Tell your brother?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Edward." Carlisle said his name and Edward looked over. I watched Edward stand up and step toward me. It was hard to believe he had been sat all this time.

"What did he say?"

_Vampires can be bad. They can be scary. They are not always nice to humans. But some vampires are. Some vampires try to be nice to humans. The do not hurt humans. They hurt animals instead. So that they don't hurt humans. He said no bad vampire would be able to come near me. He said Him, Rose, Jasper, Alice and you would stop them._ I gave Edward the run down of Emmett's warning in my head. _He made me promise not to run off._

Edward explained everything to Carlisle.

"Would you trust the nice vampires?" Carlisle asked of me.

"I trust you." I nodded.

"You figured out why I asked?"

"Yes." I nodded again. My glance looked at Jasper. "Jasper not bad vampire. Why you call him bad?" I hugged Jasper tightly. He hugged me back.

"We are all very good at controlling our thirst for human blood. Jasper has a harder time, as he survived on it for so long." I knew they expected me to flinch and reach to Edward. But I held on tighter to Jasper. I saw Alice smile out of the corner of my eyes. I heard Carlisle and Edward stand up straight. Something told me they were confused this time.

"He not hurt me." I smiled.

"I won't." Jasper agreed.

"I agree with Jasper. A very odd human child." Carlisle commented.

"But she's right," Edward told him, "Jasper doesn't seem like he will hurt her, and Alice looks so sure."

"Sure about that at least." She whispered. But me, Jasper and Edward heard her.

"Ali?" I looked up at Jasper. He was looking at Alice, as was Edward.

"No." Edward whispered. "Was that girl?" He paused.

"Yes. When she is fifteen. Or rather, when she looks fifteen." Alice sighed.

"Do you mind telling me what is going on?" Jasper held me tighter, as if he were protecting me from something.

"Volturi." Edward's voice shook. I had never heard that before.

"We have fifteen years." Alice finished.

"They are not taking her." Jasper mumbled.

"We will try and protect her the best we can." Carlisle rested his hand on Jasper's shoulder.

"But Carlisle," Alice looked at me, "what if our best isn't good enough?"

"Jasper." I stuttered his name. I could only say Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Alice's names properly. "Volturi bad vampires?"

"Yes, in the way that Emmett described." He looked back down at me.

"I not going." I held onto him tighter.

"They make her forget. Everything good about us. They will only leave in the arguments." Alice's face was like a shattered heart. She looked as though she would cry.

"We don't argue with her." Jasper interjected.

"Edward will. When she is older."

"Why me?" Edward looked from me to Alice.

"I don't know. She has to choose. Between them and us. The rest is cloudy."

"Alice." I reached out to her. "I cause trouble." I sighed.

"No you don't." Alice lifted me out of Jasper's cold arms and into her snow white, cold arms. I was getting used to the temperature now.

"Yes. Do." I looked at Edward's puzzled face. _I cause trouble. No get hurt. I should be de-_

"Don't you dare." Edward scolded me. I flinched and clung to Alice. He was the same serious that had scared me when him and Carlisle first found me.

"Sorry." I sighed. "But true."

"No it isn't."

"What isn't?" Alice and Jasper said in perfect synchronisation.

"Dead." I said. My voice sounded dead as I lay in Alice's arms. The temperature didn't bother me much. My voice sounded even colder.

"She thinks she should be dead." Edward hissed through his teeth. I felt Alice freeze in alarm.

"No you shouldn't sweetie. You don't cause trouble. The bad vampires cause trouble. Us good vampires, we don't cause trouble. But we cause more than you." She was looking down at me. A soft, gentle smile on her pale face. I held on tighter.

"Fire."

"Carlisle, you wanted to try something." Edward suddenly jumped alert.

"No." Alice head snapped up as she snarled. Jasper suddenly ran in between me and Alice and Carlisle and Edward.

"She will be fine, Alice, Jasper." I felt Alice snarl again at Carlisle.

"Esme, did you agree to this?" Alice tore her gaze from Carlisle and looked to Esme, who was sat on the staircase.

"I had no say, Alice. But I am sure Acacia will be fine."

"No." Alice repeated, holding me tighter. "It's not right Carlisle. She isn't one of your patients, she isn't a lab rat either."

"I know. But I only need to do one thing."

"I said no." Alice hissed. Jasper was still stood in between us and Carlisle.

"Alice in the fire we found her in, she wasn't burnt, yet the whole house was on fire. I just want to see if fire does burn her." Carlisle explained calmly.

"Alice. It okay." I said just as calmly as Carlisle.

"No, Acacia. You could get really hurt." She looked down at me.

"Alice, I not get hurt." I told her. "Fire, not hurt me."

"Acacia. Why do you trust fire?" Alice was shaking her head at me now. "It is dangerous."

_About as dangerous as you or Jasper and I trust you two with my life._

"She says, it's about as dangerous as you or Jasper, and she trusts you with her life." Edward told them.

"But-"

"Carlil." I said. Jasper, who usually gave me what I wanted, stepped aside. Alice reluctantly handed me to Carlisle.

"Thank you, Acacia." He smiled at me.

"Get on wiv ik." I said, folding my arms.

"Nice." Jasper laughed.

"Esme, hand me that candle. Edward, hold Acacia. She is more relaxed when you hold her than when I do."

"She is more relaxed when Jasper holds her actually."

"He uses his gift."

"Er, no actually, I don't." Jasper told them calmly.

"Odd." Carlisle shrugged and looked back at Edward, who was holding me now.

_I'm not a pass the parcel._ I told him in my mind. I felt him chuckle at my remark.

"Stay still Acacia." Carlisle took my hand and held it on top of a large, bright candle flame. "Does that hurt?"

I shook my head.

"Not burn you?"

I shook my head again and showed him both sides of my hand.

"Interesting."

"No more experiments, Carlisle." I heard Alice protest. I was to busy watching the candle to take any notice.

"Fire." I told Edward.

"Yes, fire." He smiled at me.

"This fire, not pain."

"No this fire is fine. Not upset." He stroked my forehead gently.

"Okay!" I said cheerfully. "I can tell." I smiled.

"She can tell?" I heard Alice echo my words.

"I am not sure about that either. But I think I know why the Volturi might want her." Carlisle answered.

"Why?"

"Can't you tell? She should have been burnt. She never flinched, not at the candle, nor the fire."

"She reached for the fire, Carlisle." Edward reminded him.

"Reached for it?" Alice looked at me curiously. I smiled up at her from Edward's arms.

"Fire was upset. It needed to be understud." I told them.

"You are really good at talking aren't you?" She smiled. Though the pain in her eyes was obvious.

"Alice." I reached for her again. "Edward. I want go back."

"Hey you said my name." He smiled and handed me over to Alice.

"What wrong?" I looked at her, my face showing the concern I felt.

"Nothing, Acacia."

"Liar." I folded my arms.

She just smiled. "It's nothing."

"Jasper." I looked at him.

"Best just leave it Ca." He shrugged.

"Alice." I hugged her. I felt her jump and I giggled. It was rare I laughed, so they kind all smiled and Jasper laughed slightly at Alice's reaction as well.

"You made me jump then, and that is pretty difficult."

"You weren't looking."

"What?" Her head suddenly dropped down to look at me.

"You weren't looking at me."

"Oh." She smiled again.

"Relax Alice." Edward told her.

"Sorry."


	4. Moving On

3. Moving on

"Acacia, hurry up!" Edward's voice echoed through the empty house.

"Coming!" I skipped down the stairs, humming as I got to the ground floor.

"You take a long time for a six year old." He smirked as he greeted me.

"Alice is my sister."

"Good point. Alice!" He called. I saw her run gracefully down the stairs.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind not turning our baby sister into a model? Also we need to get going."

"I don't turn her into a model, I just make her look prettier than she already is."

"I can't win this argument."

"Jasper!" Alice smiled in victory then called to Jasper.

"Yeah." He appeared by Edward's side.

"She can't run as fast as us." I saw her nod toward me out of the corner of my eye.

"Right." He smiled. He walked over to me slowly, turned around and crouched. "Climb on." He told me.

"Um... All right." Reluctantly I climbed onto his back. I shook slightly as he stood up.

"Careful." He laughed.

"Sorry."

"Acacia Gisella Cullen." Edward said my full name.

"Oops. Sorry." I cringed. "Damn it!"

"Try not to say it." He smirked.

"I can't help it." I sighed.

"Oh. I meant to ask. I haven't been able to read your mind lately, have you been upset?"

"I haven't been able to tell her emotions." Jasper added.

"Alice, it working!" I said to her, a huge smile broke across my pale face.

"Yeah." She smiled back.

"I see. So me and Carlisle aren't allowed to experiment, but you are?" Edward folded his arms.

"It isn't really me Edward. It was Acacia who had the idea. She said that she wanted to see how long she could keep you out of her head for."

"Thanks, Acacia." He rolled his eyes.

"Your welcome!" I joked. "Shouldn't we be going?"

"Oh yeah!" Edward smiled at me. "Catch me if you can!" Then he ran off.

"Yeah, because that is really going to happen." Jasper rolled his eyes. I saw Alice take his hand as they began to run.

It had stopped making me dizzy when I was about two. I was used to it now. I saw Alice smile up at me, I smiled back.

"Your hair looks really nice in the wind, Acacia." She said. Her voice was kind and hopeful.

"Thank you." I smiled again. I looked down at my hair. It was blonde, straight. It was long- though if Alice had her way it would be shorter- but not as long as Rose's.

Alice often complimented me. I wasn't so sure that she was right though.

In my opinion I had one major downfall. My eyes.

The first time I saw them, I fell of the sofa. They were flame red and looked as though they were actually burning. Edward and Carlisle thought it would go away. I'm six now. They are still like that. So apparently they were wrong.

"Where are we going?" I asked after a short time.

"A boat on the shore." Jasper answered. "It is taking us overseas. We are going to see some old friends in Alaska."

I lay my head against his shoulder. He knew what I meant.

"We wouldn't be taking you if they weren't good vampires."

"We wouldn't let the others even think of it." Alice added.

"Won't I cause trouble for them?"

"I don't see anything bad. Tanya will be shocked but she will know you are human so nothing will change." She explained.

"Denali?" I asked. I had heard of Tanya's coven before. Carlisle was on about visiting.

"Yes." She said calmly. "They may be a little shocked over you sweetie."

"Why?"

"Vampires don't usually raise human children."

"Oh."

"Tanya, Kate, Irina, Carmel and Eleazar." She said, as if answering a question I hadn't spoke yet.

"You'll be fine." Jasper assured me. "We are here." He suddenly stopped. I'd forgotten he was running.

"Come on." Alice lifted me off his back and pushed me toward Esme.

"Hey sweetheart." Esme said kindly. I had started calling her and Carlisle mum and dad now. The others I called brother or sister.

"Hello mummy." I smiled as she took my hand.

She led me toward a large boat, I had only seen boats in pictures. This one was huge compared to small and human me.

"On you go." She twirled me round and handed me to Carlisle, who was already on the boat.

As he put me down I turned around and hugged him tightly.

"What is it?" He crouched down to my height.

"Water." I hugged him again.

"She is afraid of water." Jasper told him from behind me.

"Oh dear." I felt Carlisle hug me back. "It will be okay. It is like fire. Peaceful and you can trust it. See?" He put is hand in the water and splashed me with it. I flinched.

"Cold." I shivered, holding on tighter.

"Alice?"

"Yes?" Her wind-chime voice came from behind me. Near to where Jasper's voice had come from.

"Do you think that you could look after her while I help Esme?"

"Sure." I felt Alice put her hand on my shoulder. "Sis?" Her gentle voice said. "Daddy needs to go help mummy. Come on." She held out her hand slowly and I let go of Carlisle.

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"Remember what Edward said." Alice reminded me.

"I am though." Edward kept telling me to stop saying sorry.

"Nothing to be sorry for." She knelt down to my height. "Why are you afraid."

"I'm not." I said quietly.

"Then why are you acting scared?" Alice was confused.

"The fire. Fire is scared. Fire thinks water will make the light go out." I pointed to the candle lantern on the boat. "The fire is scared. I scared for fire."

"Oh." Alice hugged me gently. "Tell the fire not to be scared. Tell the fire that it's light won't go out."

"It says it has before." I was watching the light, I did not look at Alice.

"Odd girl." I heard Carlisle mumble in fascination.

"Why don't me and you stay with the fire, make sure it doesn't go out?" Alice asked me.

"Okay." I nodded.

"Come on, lets sit down." I finally looked at Alice.

"I sound like an idiot don't I?"

"You might to normal people. Not to us though." She smiled picking me up and putting me down on a bench next to the candle.

"I wouldn't know. I never met normal people." I frowned.

"Humans aren't much fun. Human grown ups are even less fun. They are grumpy a lot." Alice pulled a face, trying to make me laugh. It didn't work.

"Is Tanya nice?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"Very." She nodded sitting next to me.

"Will you miss England, Alice?"

"I guess. A lot of memories are here. I'm sure we'll come back one day though."

"One day." I repeated quietly. I felt the boat suddenly jolt into movement.

"Emmett!" Alice shouted, turning her face toward the front of the boat..

"Sorry!" Emmett's voice cheered, a sound of laughter echoed in it.

"You okay?" Alice turned back to me.

"Fine." I nodded, my eyes were fixed on the flame.

"It will be all right."

"I don't doubt you. The flame does."

"Fires all go out eventually."

"Like people." I mumbled. Alice froze.

"What?" She looked at me, her eyes wide, shock overshadowed the gentle nature they usually held.

"Fire is like people."

"How?"

"Well, like flames, or candles. People have a end. Their lights go out."

"I really didn't expect you to say anything as deep as that."

"Sorry."

"Not worth apologising, that was really insightful."

"Odd girl." I mumbled before Carlisle got chance. Alice laughed. I heard Carlisle mumble something. But I wasn't what he usually said when I said something odd.

I couldn't make out what he said. Whatever it was it made Alice and Jasper alert. Jasper appeared at my side and Alice ran over to Carlisle.

"Carlisle." She whispered. I watched Carlisle nod and walk inside the main cabin. Alice followed.

"Huh?" I looked up at Jasper.

"Alice needed to talk to Carlisle, it's okay."

"What did Daddy say?"

"Nothing that important."

"What did Alice see?"

"You know me and her too well." He laughed. "I don't know what she saw but her mood changed. A lot."

"Is she okay?"

"She'll be fine, sis." He reassured me.

"Nine years." I said.

"You are going nowhere." He put his cold hand on my shoulder, it made me jump.

"We are nearly there!" We heard Emmett shout.

"Wow." I whispered.

"What?" Jasper was sat next to me now.

"He drives really fast."

"Haha. Yeah. You really don't want to be in a car with him or Edward when there is no speed restriction." He laughed.

"Wasn't planning on it."

"Esme!" A woman's voice called.

"Good Afternoon, Tanya." Esme greeted as the boat stopped.

"You trusted Emmett to drive?" A blonde haired woman came to the side of the boat. "Where is Jasper?"

"He got us here in one piece, Tanya." Esme laughed. "Jasper is with Acacia."

"Oh yes!" Tanya jumped onto the boat. "The human girl. Where is she?"

"Good Evening, Tanya." I greeted from Jasper's side. I watched her spin round to look at me.

"Esme you were not joking."

"What about?"

"Her being pretty."

"Of course not Tanya, Alice will probably sell her a lot better than I did."

"I do not want to be sold to anyone." I told Jasper as Tanya walked over to us.

"Not literally sis." He laughed.

"You are very pretty, little one." Tanya smiled at me. "But how odd, your eye colour makes you stand out, my dear."

"I know." I grumbled.

"You do not like them?"

"No, ma'am. They would not fit in with normal people. I have come to the conclusion I am not normal. I think Carlisle has also."

"Oh! Where is Carlisle?"

"Inside with my sister."

"Alice." Jasper told her.

"Oh. I won't disturb them." She nodded. Her face suddenly alert. It was known even to me that when Alice spoke to Carlisle, things weren't quite right. Or if she was being serious, it was better-not to mention safer-to not interrupt.

"Do we not get a greeting?" Two other girls entered the boat. One had dark hair and like Tanya and the other girl, was beautiful. The girl stood beside her was the same. Luminous white skin, radiating amber eyes and beauty beyond humans.

"Irina." Tanya shook her head.

"Good afternoon." I nodded at them.

"Hello little one." The darker haired girl walked over. "My name is Kate. What is yours?"

"Acacia, Miss." I nodded politely. No one had figured out why I always do that.

"That's a nice name. Isn't it some kind of Japanese tree?" The blonde girl looked at Jasper. I guessed he was Irina.

"Yes. But the name means many things. Carlisle looked it up to see if her mother had a reason for naming her it, he was shocked when he saw one of the meanings."

"What was it?" Irina asked him. Her voice intrigued.

"Immortality of the soul, innocence and purity."

"Odd indeed." Tanya agreed with him as I watched. I was young, I did not understand this conversation.

"Alice." Was all I said to draw the others attention.

"What is it?" Jasper asked.

"What did she _see?_" I was being impatient, Emmett was not happy when I was impatient.

"I do not know." Jasper admitted with a sigh.

Suddenly my young mind jumped alert. The flame. It had gone out.

"The flame."

"It had no life left in it, Acacia." Jasper told me cautiously. He pointed at the melted wax, gathered at the bottom of the charred lamp.

"The lights always go out." I whispered in realization. Nothing lasts forever.

"Eventually." Jasper told me.

"That's not what she meant." Alice stepped out of the cabin, Carlisle stood behind her.

My head jolted up to look at her.

"Edward." Carlisle called him over. I saw him whisper something but I didn't hear what.

Edward smiled at me. But I could see the concern in his eyes. He greeted Tanya and the others with a nod and darted off.

"Where is Edward going?" I looked at Carlisle.

"He is just doing a job for me." He smiled cheerfully at me, but I saw his gaze turn to Jasper.

Jasper shook his head. Alice bit her lip.

"Sis, calm down a bit okay?"

"He's not getting in my head, Alice." I frowned, looking at Jasper.

"Acacia." She murmered.

"Might as well just leave it, Alice." Jasper said.

"I need to talk to you, Jasper." Alice took his hand and dragged him to the other side of the boat.

I looked up at Tanya.

"Are they annoying you as much as they are annoying me?" I said sarcastically.

"Only slightly, Acacia." Tanya laughed.

"Back in a minute Acacia." Jasper smiled at me from the other side of the boat as Emmett sat down beside me.

"Hey."

"Are we ever going to get off this boat, Em?" I asked him, my voice was quiet and bored. There was an anxious tone in it and I knew my brother would hear it.

"Yeah sure. Come on, lets go for a walk round." I saw Alice shoot Emmett a worried look.

"I'll take her." Kate smiled. Taking my hand.

"You sure?" Rosalie walked over.

"Yeah. I'd like to get to know Acacia a little better anyway." Kate smiled again.

"All right." Emmett nodded and Kate walked with me off the boat.

"So how old are you now, Acacia?" Kate asked me as we walked through the trees. Which was a change, Acacia had gotten used to running. It was a nice change though.

"I'm six." I smiled.

"So you have lived with the Cullens since you were a baby?"

"Yeah. I never knew my family."

"You sound a lot older than you are Acacia. You have been hanging around with Edward too much." She laughed.

"I guess so."

"You seem close to Alice and Jasper. Are you?"

"Yes, very. Alice and Jasper are really nice to me. Alice always makes me laugh. She is like my best friend."

"That's good. Alice seemed upset. I wonder what's wrong with her." Kate whispered in thought.

"Not sure. She won't tell me. I think it is something to do with the Volturi."

"What?" Kate paused and looked at me.

"The Volturi." I repeated.

"You know about them?"

"I live with vampires remember, Kate."

"Wow, you do sound a lot older than you are." She laughed.

"I've gotten used to it. In Carlisle's words when ever I say something that is different from a normal kid, 'fascinating child'." I sighed, as we carried on walking.

"You don't sound very happy, Acacia."

"I'm not. I am still a bit annoyed." I shrugged. "Any idea where Edward went?"

"Not a clue, sorry." Kate shook her head. "I heard that you can annoy Edward. Your mind is always alert, it won't let him read it when its like that, right?"

"I can kind of lock my mind. Jasper can't control my emotions either."

"Indeed fascinating." Kate joked.

"It's not fascinating, its annoying. I have to purposely stay calm all the time, to let them into my head. If not they can't read my mind. But it's a lot harder than it sounds."

"I can imagine."Kate told me. Her voice reasurring.

"You are very nice Kate." I smiled at her.

"Thank you. I try to be. I am not always. No one is."

"Amen to that." I said, sounding older again.

"Haha. There you go again." Kate laughed but she stopped and looked down at me. "The fire on the boat. The candle. What did you say about it?"

"The light will always go out." I struggled to remember, stopping and turning round to look up at Kate.

"Alice said you meant something different by it. Did you?"

"Fire goes out, light goes out, everything has it's time to end. Happiness ends, smiles fade." I whispered.

"Older than you look." Kate said again.

"Old mind. You pick it up if you live with the Cullens for so long."

"I can imagine." Suddenly, Kate's expression changed, I noticed but she didn't think I did. She suddenly turned concerned.

"What's wrong Kate?"

"Huh?" Kate jumped at my voice. "Oh, I was wondering. You have been human all the time you have lived with the Cullen's. You never seem afraid of them. What are you scared of?"

"Oh." I said, my mind suddenly cast back to my dream then to the screaming that I had heard as a baby. I felt my legs suddenly give way beneath me. I fell to the ground with my hands clutching my head, it was screaming again. It was all I could hear. Only in the background could I make out Kate, and suddenly Jasper, calling my name as I fell unconscious.


	5. Meet Me Again

4. Meet Me Again

"Get up." A loud knocking reached my ears.

"You bang that door much harder Edward and you'll break it." I called back to him. I heard him sigh from the other side of the door.

"Don't tempt me. Who do you think you are sometimes?"

"Your very annoying 14 year old sister."

The annoying bit doesn't shock me." He mumbled. "Just get up before Alice comes and drags you up."

"Whatever." I said sarcastically. I threw my head back against the pillow. I tossed my book across the room, hitting my target of the shelf. It strangely landed directly on it.

"Put your book down." Edward's tone was getting impatient.

"I have, now get lost." I said sitting up. I swirled round on my bed and jumped up.

"Be nice you two." Carlisle's voice drifted to us both. I could tell he had heard us arguing, but to be honest, it wasn't hard to.

Arguing was a regular occurance between me and Edward, but I knew the others found it annoying how much we argued. Which was a lot.

"All right. I'm up." I said loud enough for Carlisle to hear. "Now get lost Edward." I hissed through the door.

"Grow up, kid." His cold voice growled back at me.

"I'm more grown up than human kids my age remember?" I said harshly, opening the door. Edward looked at me in surprise. "What, I said I was up?" I was fully dressed. My dark purple top was pulled down, slightly hanging over my black jeans. My feet had my dark purple and black trainers on. A smiled at Edward sarcastically as he replied.

"Brat."

"My reputation." I mumbled sarcastically as I walked past him and walked down the stairs. I heard him mumble something as he walked to his room.

"Hi!" Alice ran over to me as I entered the room.

"Alice, it's not my birthday till tomorrow. Could you tone the happiness down a bit?"

"You are so stressed. What's up?" She folded her arms.

"Nothing." I shrugged.

"As always." She shook her head and ran back through the kitchen.

"As always." I whispered. My own lie echoed in my head. My dreams were being awkward again.

"Good Morning, Acacia." Tanya's voice reached me as I walked into the room where everyone, including Edward who glared at me, was sat.

"Hey." I looked at them all, one by one. Taking in the fact that every one of them was silent. "What?" I turned my eyes to Carlisle, who smiled at me.

"Nothing."

"How's your head, Cia?" Jasper asked. I shrugged. My head had been hurting for the past few days. Like mad. I had heard the screaming again last night. It was worrying. Especially for my family. It concerned them, even Edward, why I heard screaming. But it concerned Jasper and Alice even more, how badly it hurt me.

"Okay, I guess. It's not going get better any time soon, Jasper." I shrugged and slumped into the empty chair beside Emmett.

"Think positively, Acacia." Carlisle smiled encouragingly at me. "It might help."

"No offence, but I don't see how thinking happy thoughts, is going to help my headache." I rolled my eyes. I didn't mean any offence. For once. I never meant any offence to Carlisle. And sometimes, me and Edward got a long really well. Like brother and sister were supposed to. But we weren't related, none of us were, so it didn't really apply to any of us.

"Acacia, try and be nice." Esme told me calmly. Her voice was soft. Like a mother's.

"Sorry, Esme." I said. I'd stopped calling them mother and father when I was 9. "I may go and play the piano. See you later." I stood back up. I heard Emmett cough. I looked at him questioningly.

"Don't always keep your head in a book squirt."

"It's a piano, an instrument, not a book Emmett. You should check your eyesight, brother."

"Ha ha." I heard him say sarcastically as I left the room.

I sat down at the piano. My head was hurting again. It was so annoying. It wouldn't go away. It was like I was dying. Or rather, my mind was. It felt as if I was screaming in the inside of me. It felt as though I was in a nightmare, and I couldn't wake up. I wanted to scream, it was basically a really bad migraine and the pain wouldn't stop. Oh and added screaming and nightmares.

I ran my hand along the keys, not pressing any down. Music made me feel better sometimes. Well, all the time. It distracted me. I'd been playing the piano since Edward taught me when I was 7. It was my favourite thing to do.

Apart from being outside.

I began to play. It was different. I didn't know what I was playing. It sounded, well, good. It was stupid. I didn't know what I was doing. I had been inside so much at the moment. Then I started writing the first thing that popped into my head. It was very odd how it could work so well when I did that.

"Nice song." I heard a voice from the door. I spun around quickly, my hands freezing above the keys.

"Edward. I'm, uh, sorry about before." I realised I felt guilty as soon as I saw my adoptive brother stood in the doorway.

"Same. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I shouldn't have started it. But that's what brothers and sisters do, biological or not. They fight."

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged. He looked slightly uncomfortable. My guess was Carlisle or Esme had sent him up here.

I turned back to the piano; I didn't really want to play with Edward in the doorway.

"So did you write that?" Edward said, making me jump.

"Uh, yeah I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well it's like with a lot of things I do, I think I do, or write."

"Oh. So did you just come up with that?"

"Yeah. I sat down and started playing. Nothing to it."

"Right." He was stood beside me now. I hadn't turned to face him. My eyes would give away the pain in my head.

"So what did you want?"

"To apologise. And to check on you. You let your guard down. Me and Jasper could feel the pain in your head. And read your mind."

"Oh." _Damn it! _I told myself in my mind.

"I heard that." He chuckled.

"Oh, shut up." I said grimly as I focused on the piano. Or I tried. And failed miserably. I stood up quickly. I was feeling a little odd.

"You okay?" Edward asked from next to me.

"Fine." I walked around him. "I'm going outside." I said walking out the door. I walked straight through the kitchen and out the back door.

"Oh my god." I said to myself as I walked quietly through the trees. I climbed one of them, my mind not currently in the same place, until a voice woke me from my thoughts.

"You okay?" I jumped. I slid and fell off the branch. A pair of strong arms caught me.

"Thanks." I said, looking at the person holding me. He looked only a few years older than me. A bit of a mess, hair wise. But totally gorgeous.

"No problem." He chuckled. He placed me on my feet carefully. "Sorry I made you jump. I'm Brice."

"It's fine." I smiled, dusting myself off. "Acacia." I looked up at him. Yeah, I'd been right. Totally gorgeous.

His hair was a chocolate brown mess, but a sort of organised one. I was short but it suited him really well. He had a tight t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans on. His shoes were just trainers. But I noticed one thing immediately as I looked at his face. His eyes were red. He was a vampire. But he didn't seem like he would hurt me.

"You okay, Acacia?" His voice broke my thoughts. I nodded at his soft speech. It was kind of hypnotising.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just.." I didn't know what to say. "Well, it's just a good job I'm not allowed to talk to humans. You, not, well."

"Being human?" He finished for me. I looked up at him nervously. He was smiling. His smile was dazzling.

"Yeah." I said cautiously.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you, I swear. Besides, you seem. Odd." He said encouragingly. Well I hope he was trying to be nice.

"So I've been told." I mumbled. I heard him laugh.

"Wanna go for a walk?" His question shocked me.

"I should probably get back."

"Back home to the mad house. Okay, whatever." He shrugged.

"Well..."

"Well, what?" He smiled at me again.

"I'm not needed at home urgently." I said slowly.

"Great." He sounded genuinely pleased.

"So where are we going?" I asked, walking along beside him, batting the branches out of my face. As long as it wasn't out of the forest or past the lake, it'd be fine.

"I don't know." He smiled down at me. "So how did you know, that I was a vampire?"

His question made me jump. I just shrugged.

"My family, well my adoptive family, they are vampires."

"So it is kinda a good thing you don't see humans."

"Yeah I guess." I suddenly tripped over something and fell straight onto my arse. "Ow." I mumbled.

"Here, let me help you up." He offered me his hand, I reluctantly took it and he helped me to my feet. "You should be more careful."

"My mind was elsewhere. Sorry." I looked at my feet as we carried on walking.

"First you fell out of a tree, then over a tree root. What will you do next?" He said sarcastically. "Watch it."

I felt his wrap his arms round my waist and lift me over something. His sudden movement shocked me.

"Rock." He cockily smiled. He took his arms from around my waist. "So how old are you?"

"14, I'm 15 tomorrow." I said, carefully stepping over a tree root.

"Okay, one, could you take my hand so I feel less nervous about you falling over? Two, would you be able to meet me on your birthday? Or do your family keep you on lock-down?"

"Uh, sure." I slowly took his hand. "Uh, I can try. I get headaches, so I go outside to help them. I could try and meet you then."

"Great. How about 7pm tomorrow? By the tree you fell out of?"

"Uh, okay."

"You say, uh, a lot." He joked. "We should probably turn around. It's getting late. Your family might get worried."

"Nah, Edward would just get annoyed."

"Edward? Edward Cullen?" I felt Brice's hand tense in mine.

"Yeah, why what's wrong?" I stopped. He turned to face me.

"Nothing. So your family is the Cullens?"

"Yeah, we are living with the Denali coven right now." His face was stone. "Hey, are you sure you are okay?"

"Yeah sorry." He smiled brilliantly at me again. "Right." He turned around, spinning me under his arm, he still had hold of my hand. "Let's go."

"Right." I nodded once as we began to walk back toward the house.

"It's a big forest. I'm surprised they let you out on your own anyway."

"I'm fourteen, Brice, not four." I saw him smile. "What?"

"You know that's the first time you've said my name ever since we met before?" He had his eyes closed but was still dodging all the branches. He opened his eyes again and looked at me. "Do you have a mobile?"

"Yeah." I pulled my black cell phone out of my jeans pocket.

"Can I have your number, to text or call you or something later?"

"Yeah, sure." I don't know why I said yes. I liked Brice. And on the bright side, he hadn't tried to bite me yet. Yet. I shook the thought from my mind. He seemed really nice.

I held out my cell phone to him, he looked at the screen and typed some numbers into it really quickly. Then he pulled a small blue "brick" phone out of his pocket, he typed something into that as well. Then he closed my phone and handed it back to me. We had been walking while he did this, he had had to let go of my hand, so I was busy watching him and dodging everything else to know where we were.

"Well, good afternoon to you Acacia." He bowed playfully as he took my hand and kissed it. I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Why are your eyes red, you are human right?" He asked me as he stood up straight.

I froze. I was really hoping he hadn't noticed.

"No entirely sure. Carlisle said that where I was born may have something to do with it."

"Where were you born?"

"How about I tell you tomorrow?" I said quickly. Then a thought popped into my head. _Had Alice seen Brice in a vision? With me?_ If so I was in trouble. Oh well, nothing different there then.

"Sure. Something other than seeing you to look forward to." What he did next shocked me. I seriously froze. He had bent down and kissed me. Not on the hand or cheek like he had before, but on my lips. His lips were so cold, and stone sort of. But I liked it. It was odd though. I was kissing a person I'd just met.

He smiled smugly as he stopped and looked down at me.

"See you tomorrow." He smiled and ran off through the forest.

"Yeah." I nodded once. I looked back through the trees toward the house. I quickly ran back to the house and went inside.

"Where have you been?" Edward asked me as I walked into the living room where he, Alice, Jasper and Carlisle were. I smiled as Tanya walked in, she nodded at me and sat down opposite to me.

"I went for a walk."

"God where did you go? America?" Tanya joked.

"What?" I asked quickly, I had no idea what time it was. Then I remembered Brice saying good afternoon.

"It's three o'clock." Edward told me. "You left at eleven. You've been gone four hours."

"Oh. Sorry. I guess I just lost track of time."

"You think?" Jasper added. I noticed Alice was being very quiet then. Carlisle had laughed. Alice was just sat there smiling, like always.

"I'm going upstairs." I said suddenly. Carlisle nodded.

"Sure. See you after." He said as I walked out of the room and ran up the stairs to my bedroom.

When I reached my room I just walked straight in and lay on my bed. I had gone outside to clear my head. Now it was more of a mess than it had been when I left.

There was a knock on the door. No one usually bothered to knock. They'd just walk in. I knew who it was, all of them had different knocks. When they bothered to knock.

"Come on in Alice." I said loud enough for her to hear. I heard the door open. I was staring at the ceiling so I didn't see her come in.

"Hey, Acacia." Her voice was quiet. But there was a slight happiness in it.

"Hi. Everything okay?" I looked at her now. She was stood on the opposite side of the room. Leant against the red wall. She was still smiling.

"Yeah." She walked over to the bed. I spun around and sat up. "Can I sit down?"

"Course." I nodded at her, and smiled.

"So, I had a vision."

"Really? Because you never have those." I said sarcastically.

"So who was he?"

"Huh?" I jumped. She had had a vision about Brice.

"The boy you met in the forest. I won't say anything I promise."

"Oh. His name's Brice." I said quietly.

"He asked you to meet him tomorrow right?"

"Yeah." I nodded once.

"You should go. You got his number?"

"Yeah."

"You know I'm not mad right? It's Edward and Carlisle's rule that you can't see people. I think you should. I saw you fall out of a tree and him catch you. Then you trip over a tree root and him help you up."

"Damn. You couldn't have seen something else?" I said glumly.

"Ha. I need to go downstairs. I said I wanted to see if you were okay. If I don't go down, one of the others will come up. See you later."

"Yeah. Bye, Alice." I smiled as she waved and left the room.

I tied my brown hair back. It was kind of light brown, it had blonde streaks in it. I pulled out a book from under my bed. I was a poetry book. But I'd written the stuff in it.

I looked at one of the poems. I had asked Kate what to call it, so it was now called Lone.

_The moonlit night_

_It shadows the maiden_

_The girl, so lonely in the night_

_Her eyes light up the mourning alley_

_They blaze like golden flames_

_The daughter of the night_

_The angel of the darkness_

_She dances through the moon's flames_

_Her movement as graceful as a goddess_

_The golden rings fixed on the scattered lights above_

_The girl's harmonious voice echoes through the dark_

_Many see her, but only one hears_

_Melody reaching through the streets_

_Listen to her song that sounds so softly_

_All she wishes is to be heard_

I had written that once when I was half asleep. I liked writing poems. And stories. They were not always cheerful but apparently they were good.

I suddenly felt a buzzing in my pocket. I pulled out my mobile. I had one new text.

**Hey How's life?**

It was from Brice. I smiled and replied.

**Same as usual. Boring as hell. You?**

I tossed my phone down on the bed next to me. I didn't expect him to reply too quickly. But nearly as soon as I'd put it down it started buzzing again.

**Likewise. What are you up to? I'm sat by the lake throwing stones across the water.**

I quickly text back.

**I am reading and possibly writing some poetry. Do you mean skipping stones?**

I waited merely a few seconds before his reply.

**You write? I wrote some a while ago I just wrote some poetry a few minutes ago actually. I didn't see you as the poetry type. Anything else I should know? Oh and yeah, skipping stones.**

I laughed.

**Why don't I seem like the poetry type? I write music and stories as well. Stories not so often but I'm almost always on the piano.**

My phone buzzed nearly as soon as I'd pressed the send button.

**Not sure. I just met you so I suppose I don't really know anything about you aside from your age and name. Haha. I play guitar but I can't write music for it. I'd love to read or hear something you have written.**

I sighed. I looked down at my poetry book, then at the music book on my desk.

**Acacia, you okay?**

Huh? My phone had gone off again. He must be pretty impatient.

**Yeah. Just thinking. You sounded impatient then. How about I bring the poetry book tomorrow?**

**Sorry. Sounds great.**

**How are the stones?**

**What?**

**The ones you were throwing at the lake. Never mind.**

**All right then. Hows your head?**

**Hurting.**

**Aw. Poor you. Anything I can do to help?**

**Not unless you have a power for healing.**

**Nah. But I do have a power.**

**Really what is it?**

**Do your "family" have gifts?**

**Yeah three of them.**

**Well mine is kind of memories. I can look through, rearrange even add false memories or take memories away.**

**Wow.**

**It's not as good as seeing the future or mind reading.**

**Hey! You knew what they could do!**

**Your family is quite well known.**

**Right.**

Then my phone began to ring, it was Brice's number, I pressed the accept key.

"Hey." I said, I realised my voice sounded half dead.

"Hi, are you okay?" Brice's voice down the phone sounded worried.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Brice, I'm fine."

"Hmph. You said my name again."

"Yes and?"

"I like it when you say it. I don't really like my name. Want to know what it means?"

"Sure."

"Quick, ambitious and alert."

"Nice. I like your name."

"I like yours. Do you know what Acacia means?"

"I know that in Greek it's a symbol of immortality and resurrection."

"Cool. Odd, but cool."

"It's a type of tree from Japan as well, I think."

"You would be right. Your name has a lot of versions, language wise. It's not a very common name."

"Great." I said sarcastically. I yawned, then clapped my hand over my mouth.

"Ha ha. Maybe you should get some sleep."

"It's only," I looked at the clock. "Half five."

"I know but you sound half dead. And you just yawned. Get some sleep, Aca."

"Uh, all right."

"Goodnight."

"No get it right, Brice. Good afternoon."

"All right. Good afternoon. Sleep well and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure. Bye Brice."

"Bye, Acacia." Then the line went dead.

I rested my head on my pillow. But as I did there was a knock on the door.

"Acacia, you gonna get something to eat before we leave?" Emmett. Him and Rose were going hunting with Jasper, Alice, Edward, Tanya, Irina and Kate today.

"No thanks." I said as I opened the door.

"Jeez, are you okay?"

"I just have a headache, same as usual. No big. I just need some sleep."

"All right." He didn't sound convinced. "You really should let Carlisle see what he can do about it."

"I hear screaming, Emmett. I don't think I need medical help. More like mental help."

"You'll be fine." He nodded to me. "Well see you later, kid."

"Tomorrow."

"Happy birthday."

"Urgh, don't remind me." I cringed as I shut the door. I really was tired.

I got changed and dropped onto my bed. I tossed the poetry book onto the floor beside the bed. I climbed under the covers and closed my eyes. I felt myself fall asleep.

I slept all right that night. For a change. Usually I had some for of dream or nightmares. But nothing. In fact almost as soon as I fell asleep I was awoken my Alice.


	6. Story Behind Us

behind us

"Happy birthday!" She shouted as I opened my eyes and saw her sat on the end of my bed.

"What time is it Alice?"

"Eight." I heard Jasper's voice from the doorway. I sighed heavily and sat up.

"It's my birthday, don't I get a lie in?"

"Nope!" Alice chirped. "Everyone is downstairs. Get changed and come down. Here." She chucked a parcel at me. "Happy birthday. Put it on. See you in a minute." With that she jumped up and skipped out the room and down the stairs.

"Sorry." Jasper said.

"It's all right. I'm used to her now." I shrugged and he laughed. Then he followed Alice downstairs.

Buzz!

I loud buzzing came from my dressing table. I jumped up and walked over. Another new text, I guessed who it was off. I was right. Brice.

**Happy Birthday. Your sister is really loud. I was camping in the forest last night. Her screaming happy birthday woke me up. I may be permanently deafened.**

I laughed as I read the text. I opened the parcel, sighed and then I text him back.

**Thanks, I'm not a huge fan of birthdays. Or parties. I hate crowds, and attention. Alice? Yeah, she was loud. You should try having her scream down your ear. Oh god, she bought me a dress.**

I pressed send and tossed the phone on the bed. I picked up the dress. Thin strapped and red, crimson red, not bright red. Alice knows I hate bright red. I sighed as I examined it. Reluctantly I went into the bathroom and put it on. I straightened my hair then went back to my room.

My phone buzzed again.

**Nice dress. You look gorgeous. Alice knows you well.**

I froze.

**Where are you?**

My phone buzzed again.

**Turn around. Look at the tree straight ahead.**

I did as I was told. I walked over to the French doors. They were like the ones you have onto a patio but these just opened. If you walked out of them, you'd have quite a drop. I looked straight ahead at the tree. I saw a shadow in one of the branches. The shadow dropped a branch and I could see it clearer now. It was Brice.

I opened the doors and stage whispered.

"What are you doing? I'll be in so much trouble if you get caught."

"I'll be in more trouble." He laughed.

"Come on." I motioned for him to come into my room. The tree was basically right outside the doors. He did as he was told and jumped into my room. I closed the doors.

I walked over to my bedside table and picked up the T.V. Remote and clicked the on button.

"Care to explain what you are doing here?"

"I wanted to say happy birthday."

"I was meeting you later. What was wrong with telling me then?" I was literally very nervous. If Edward saw Brice, he'd kill both of us.

"Is it such a crime to want to see you?" He sounded upset. Like a child who had been scolded. It was only then I realised how harsh my voice had been.

"Sorry. But if Edward sees you, he'll kill both of us."

"Sorry. I don't want to get you into trouble. You do look gorgeous though."

"You are not helping yourself Brice." I smiled sarcastically and put my hands on my hips.

"Sorry." He repeated. He looked at me, up and down then met my eyes. "I was being serious though."

"I look terrible. I always do like this. I don't know why Alice makes me wear a dress she knows I hate them." I spun around to look in the mirror, it was the same length as my wall. Which meant it was very high.

My straight brownish blonde hair hung down over my shoulders, my crimson dress hung effortlessly on me. It cut off just above my knees. I looked at where it started. The top of the dress was low, it was far away from my neck and the straps were really thin.

"You know, I think those straps are detachable." Brice said walking up behind me. He was taller than me, not a lot taller than me, but enough to make me feel short. I felt even more hideous stood next to him. He looked gorgeous. "And you look fine. Better than fine. You look amazing. Do I have to say it any more times?"

"Sorry. Low self esteem."

"Listen," he turned me to face him and placed his hands on my shoulders "do you trust me?"

"I only met you yesterday."

"Yeah. I trust you though. I don't know why. I just met you. You are also human, I'm kind of. Not. I have only ever trusted vampires. And I don't trust anyone any more. You are the first person I have trusted in a long time. I need to know if you trust me."

"I trust you." I said slowly. It wasn't a lie. I did trust him. But like I said I'd only just met him. But then a memory ran through my mind. It was when he'd kissed me yesterday. I'd trusted him before that but that kind of made me trust him more.

"Good." He said. Then I saw him smile.

"What?" I said nervously.

"I just saw the memory you were thinking of." He grinned.

"Oh." I felt my cheeks going red.

"It's fine." He said. He rubbed the back of his head as if he were nervous. "I thought about that as soon as I woke up." He patted his hair down. It didn't work. "Okay, yesterday I had a lot of confidence, now its all gone away." He sounded really nervous.

I took a step toward him.

"What do you need confidence for?" I said encouragingly. "And confidence doesn't just disappear."

"Mine has." I could hear him breath heavier. "Yesterday. I, well. I, um."

"Okay you really are nervous. I don't see why though. It's just me and you here." I was seriously totally clueless.

"Yesterday. I, uh,"

"Kissed me?" I finished for him.

"Yeah. I think there is another reason for me trusting you than you just being one of the nicest people I've ever met."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." I smiled.

"Okay, you should go downstairs. I'll wait up here. Do you have something for me to read while I wait?"

"I have my poetry book. If you finish, there are loads of books." I motioned to the cabinet full of books.

"Right." He smiled as I walked out the room.

"You might want to turn the television off." I added as I closed the door.

"Happy birthday Acacia!" I was greeted by my family and the Denali coven, who I now also classed as my family, screaming happy birthday at me when I got into the living room.

"Hey. Thanks." I walked past all of them and sat down in a chair beside Carlisle. He nodded to me.

"Happy birthday, Acacia." He smiled. He spoke quietly. He knew I didn't like a big deal of my birthdays. Shame the rest of them didn't understand that.

"Thanks, Carlisle." I smiled slightly. Then stared at the ceiling.

"No presents right?" Kate smiled.

"No presents." I repeated. "Besides, none of you ever know what to get me."

"How bout this?" Edward chucked a box at me. I read the label it was from him and Emmett and Rosalie.

I reluctantly opened it. It was a new sketchbook. And a set of pencils.

"Uh, thanks guys." I smiled at them.

"Yeah, that's in payment for Emmett dropping your old one in a puddle."

"I told him it was okay, I'd used up all the pages anyhow."

"Well, happy birthday sweetie." Rose smiled at me.

"We got you two things. One of them you already have." Alice nodded at me. "The dress looks great by the way."

"Sorry." Jasper said again. "Here." He threw another package at me.

"Thanks." I nodded at him then rolled my eyes at Alice. I opened the package and found a copy of Romeo and Juliet, Othello and a CD of random songs that I guessed Jasper had put together.

Alice smiled at me.

"The CD is from Jasper. The dress from me. The books are from Tanya's coven." She told me.

"Thank you. All of you." I nodded at them.

"We didn't forget." Esme said from the other side of Carlisle. She gave him a parcel to hand to me and I took it reluctantly from him.

"Thanks." I opened the parcel and found a turquoise watch inside. Emerald was in the center.

"You always say you can't keep track of time." Esme laughed.

"Right. Thanks." I hugged her and Carlisle.

"Go put your stuff upstairs." Carlisle told me.

"Uh, sure." I nodded standing up. "Alice can you help me?"

"Yeah. Of course." She nodded and took one of the boxes from me. Then we walked out of the room.

"He's in your room isn't he?" She said as we were walking up the stairs.

"Yeah." I nodded slowly.

"Can I meet him?" I thought she was going to ask me to tell him to leave. So that was kind of a shock.

"If he's still there." I said.

"He will be."

"Alice!" Edward's voice called up the stairs.

"Yes, Edward?" She shouted back.

"Can you come downstairs?"

"Yeah, be right there." She turned to me. "Maybe next time." She smiled and placed the things she held in my arms and began to walk to the stairs.

"Tell the others I'm going to the forest for a while." I saw her smile.

"Sure." Then she ran back down the stairs.

I walked slowly up the next set of stairs and went over to my door. It opened for me. Brice stood on the opposite side, smiling like mad.

"Hey." I said, smiling back.

"Hi. Here, let me help you." He took the presents from me and walked back into the room.

"Thank you." I thanked him as he laid the things down on the desk by the windows.

"No problem." He spun around to face me, I saw he was still smiling.

"So, you read the poetry then?" I nodded to the small red book on the end of the bed. I sat down on the black quilt on the bed. Brice smiled again. He seemed awfully cheerful. Compared to when I went downstairs.

"Yes, I did." He suddenly appeared next to me. "I loved them. You are really good."

"Thanks. I don't know what any of them mean. Well I know a couple."

"What about Missing Heart?" He asked.

"Huh?" I watched as he picked up the book and opened it to the page he wanted. He began to recite the poem on the page.

"_As soon as we met_

_I was blinded by him_

_Not his looks or his voice_

_Just by him._

_It was something like nothing_

_I could feel nothing except happiness_

_Then it was stripped from me_

_It was like a bad dream_

_Like my heart had gone numb_

_I could suddenly see again_

_I could feel everything_

_I could see the darkness around me_

_But now something was missing from me_

_Even though I should be whole again_

_Then I dreamt of them_

_The boy who had the missing part of my heart_

_I could not just see him_

_I could nearly feel his golden fire eyes watching_

_I had loved this boy_

_Whose arms I could feel wrap round me_

_The protectiveness I missed._"

"Oh. That." I said quietly.

"You say that like it is a bad thing." I looked at his pale face to see him looking surprised and slightly hurt.

"It's just, that's one I don't understand. Why? Is that your favourite?"

"One of them." He replied.

"Why, what other?"

"Listen."

"I wrote Missing Heart a couple of days ago. I wrote Listen about three weeks ago." Listen was, well different. The oddest of all my poems was one called reflection. Listen was about something awakening, at least that's what it sounded like. But it also sounded as if something was suffering. And something about the elements.

Then Reflection, well that was about, I think, seeing your reflection, but not seeing its you. Like you are some one totally different than you used to be.

"They are good." He smiled at me, I lost myself for a moment. Then blinked quickly and re-entered the real world.

"Uh, thanks." I said, attempting to smile back.

"Here. Happy birthday." He pulled a small box from his pocket of his jeans.

"Why did you get me a present?"

"I am allowed right?" He said sarcastically, taking in my surprised expression. He handed the box to me.

"Uh, yeah." I looked down at the black box in my hands. "What is it?"

"Open it and find out." He shrugged.

"Right." I carefully opened the box and froze when I saw it's contents. It was a necklace. Well, to be exact it was a silver chain with a ruby attached. The ruby was not huge, but it wasn't exactly microscopic. I was utterly speechless.

"Do you like it? I didn't really know what to get."

"How much did it cost?" I stuttered.

"Not much. The jeweller was a woman. It's amazing the favours you can get women to do when you are a male vampire." He laughed. But I folded my arms.

"Hey, I'm a human girl you know."

"Sorry, love. I'd never do that to you I swear!" He waved his arms like an idiot. Now it was my turn to laugh.

"You are not very good at keeping out of trouble are you, Brice?" It was only after that I realised he'd called me love.

"So I've been told." He rubbed the back of his head, as if he were embarrassed. "So do you like it then?"

"I love it, Brice." I said encouragingly. He smiled smugly.

"Good. Happy birthday." He said again. Suddenly he was right in front of me. He wrapped his arms round my waist and lifted me to his height. I knew what he was going to do. I let my mind scan the memory of yesterday afternoon.

"Good guess." He smiled at me then he pressed his lips firmly to mine. I felt a jolt of coldness as soon as I touched him. But given the situation, any consciousness I had of anything around me quickly faded. All I knew was that I was stood in the middle of my bedroom, kissing a vampire. That was kind of all that I cared about right then.

About five minutes later, I only know because I saw the clock, he let me go and placed me back on my feet.

"Better?" I asked him. He seemed slightly breathless, but that was nothing to how I sounded.

"Much." He smiled cockily at me again. Okay I have to admit, I like it when he did that. He looked really cute. I fell backward onto the bed. I blew my blondish brown hair from my eyes.

"What now?" I said, still pretty breathless. I picked up the box with the necklace inside.

"How about you put your necklace on?" He walked over and sat beside me, taking the box. He opened it and took the necklace out. "Or how about I do?"

"Sure." I shrugged. I pulled my hair back and held it up as I watched the necklace pass over my face. I felt the coldness of it as it rested on my skin. But it was nothing compared to the icy heat of his hands against my bare neck. They were like snow. The colour and temperature.

"There." I felt the necklace drop and rest around my neck as he spoke. I felt the coldness of his hands disappear.

"Thanks." I said. I looked at him, he was sat behind me smiling.

"No problem." He assured me.

"Want to go for a walk?" I asked him, standing up. My voice was no longer shaky, nor was my breath.

"Sure." He jumped up after me. I walked over to my wardrobe. I pulled out my favourite jacket. It was winter and this jacket was thin, but it kept me warm. I kind of made Alice let me keep it. She wasn't to happy, but eventually she let me.

"Uh. How about I meet you there. You can't exactly go downstairs and out the door."

"There is a tree basically coming in your window. Climb out of that." He said.

"Oh yeah." I said. I didn't really like climbing onto that tree. I had fallen off once.

"I won't let you fall." He assured me again. He was doing a lot of that.

"Right." I looked out of the doors as he opened one of them.

"You are scared of heights." He didn't mean that as a question. But I answered.

"Maybe." I looked at my feet. Then I felt a cold hand under my chin. Brice lifted my chin up so I'd look at him.

"I promise I will never let you get hurt." He sounded so sure. I nodded slowly. He kissed my forehead. "Do you believe me?"

"Yes." I said slowly. He climbed onto the tree branch, or rather, he jumped. I walked over to the window, he extended his hand to me.

"Don't look down." He said sarcastically.

"I'm not scared of heights, I'm scared of falling." I told him.

"I'll catch you. But you won't fall." He jerked forward and grabbed my hand, pulling me onto the branch with him. The branch shook slightly. He smiled that cocky smile again.

We shuffled along the branch until we got to the trunk. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me tight against him.

"Trust me?" He said suddenly.

"Yeah." I was telling the truth. I did trust him. He held me tighter and leapt of the branch, landing on the floor far below in no time at all.

"There." He put me down on my feet, letting go of my waist.

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"No problem." He returned the smile. "Come on." He took my hand and led me out into the forest.

"So how long have you lived with the Cullens?" He asked quietly as we walked along.

"Since I was a baby. I never knew my birth parents." I told him, I felt slightly awkward. I only knew of my past what I had been told. Also the fact that whenever I thought about the fire, all I could hear was screaming.

"Why? What happened to them?"

"They died, almost a soon as I was born. That's not an exaggeration." I shrugged looking away from him, his hand still held mine tightly though, as we ducked and climbed, over and under branches and trunks.

"How did they die? Do you know?" He was asking a lot of questions.

"Yes. I know. I was there." I whispered. Not wanting to bring up too much of the memory.

"Are you okay telling me what happened?" His voice was concerned now. I could tell his golden eyes were fixed on me. Also, we'd stopped walking.

"I guess. They died in a fire. A fire that I was born in."

"You were born in a fire?" He said shocked. I still refused to look at him.

"Yeah. It's a long story." I said calmly.

"We've got time." He smiled gently at me as I finally looked at him.

"I don't remember much." I told him. "I was a baby."

"You remember your mother screaming don't you?" He asked a different question. Different from the what and how's. This question shocked me a little.

"Get out of my head Brice."

"I will, when you get out of mine." He backfired. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant.

"Huh?"

"You really never have been around humans before have you, Acacia?" He tilted his head as we carried on walking. I shook my head. "Well, so you have never had a boyfriend?"

"Nope. Never." I shook my head again.

"Whoa." He looked from me to ahead of us. The lake was coming into view. "You ever been to the city?"

"No." I admitted slowly. "I don't like busy places anyway."

"This place? Busy? It's not really a city. It's a town. Or a village." He laughed.

"I don't like crowds."

"You live with the Cullen family and the Denali coven." He smiled as the lake grew larger ahead of us. "The crowds thing went out the window when you were a baby."

"I don't stay downstairs with them. I like being alone. It's rare I leave my room." I told him. "So how about you? You've heard my story. Do I get to hear yours? I mean I don't even know your surname."

"Volturi." He whispered. I gasped and took a step backward. "And that right then was why I never told you." He sighed, we'd reached the lake. He sat on the dirt and his hand slipped from mine.

"I still trust you." I shrugged. "Edward is the protective one." I sat down beside him. I looked straight out to the lake as he looked at me. I gripped his hand now.

"You are an idiot." He laughed.

"I know. The fact had been mentioned." I smiled as I looked at him.


	7. Alert? Brice?

6. Alert? Brice?

"I'd never hurt you. Or let anything happen to you, Acacia." Brice assured me, putting his arm round my shoulders.

"I believe you." I said calmly.

"Want to know anything else about me?" He smiled, his smug smile that I loved so much was spread across his face.

"Uh, how old are you?" I said quietly, still looking at the lake.

"Not that old. I'm actually 23." He smiled again, but he looked more amused this time.

"What's so funny?" I saw him jump slightly in surprise when I read his expression.

"Nothing." He pulled me slightly closer to him. He took in the fact I was watching him now. "Just remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"When I was human. It's a lot different compared to now."

"How is it different, apart from the year?"

"Yeah, I guess I never really thought about the year. I was seventeen when I was changed. Born in 1975. So do the math, 1998 now."

"Right I get it. I was born in 1983, I'm 15." I smirked at him playfully.

"Yeah, my human days weren't much fun. I grew up in an orphanage. My parents died when I was little." The hurt in his voice as he mentioned his parents was obvious.

"I never knew mine." I told him reassuringly. "But I guess two good things came of that."

"What good can come of never knowing your family?"

"I would never have met the Cullens or you." I smiled kindly up at him. He smiled back and kissed my cheek.

"You are pretty unpredictable you know? How do you take something bad and make it good?" He turned his gaze to the shimmering lake ahead of us.

"You think about it. Not everything has a happy ending but every cloud has a silver lining right?" My face turned expressionless and my hand suddenly flew to my head, I could hear the screaming again. If I dare close my eyes I would see fire. The fire I was born into. I closed them though.

"I guess." I saw his face turn back to me as I clutched my head. "Acacia, you okay?" His voice was worried, I felt him put his hand on my shoulder. The other gripped my hand even tighter, as my eyes shut.

"I'll be okay." I said through the screaming in my head. I opened my eyes and smiled encouragingly at him. "Carry on, I want to hear your story."

"You sure?" His eyes were cloaked, I couldn't read his expression. I nodded. "Okay then."

"Like I said I grew up in an orphanage, but when I was fifteen, I ran away. I was on the street for two years, I'm from Italy by the way, which explains the next bit. It was two years, just after I turned seventeen, that I was 'found' by them. Them being the-"

"Volturi." I finished for him. He nodded half heartedly.

"Yeah. Anyway, they said that I had potential as one of them. In other words, they thought that I would have a gift. Which sadly they were right about. Anyway, three days later I woke up underground. All I remember is pain, a lot of it. That's it. After that I have lived with the Volturi, I had nowhere else to go even if I wanted to."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Kind of a vacation, I can't run away from the Volturi anyway, Demetri will find me. I'm just keeping check everything is okay here. Also like I said, it's kind of a break from Aro. I need to go back later tonight."

"Who are Demetri and Aro?"

"Demetri is a tracker, and a bloody good one at that. Aro is kind of the boss, everyone kind of answers to him, and Caius and Markus."

"Right." I nodded once. I looked up at the sky. "It's going to rain again."

"Yeah, third time this week, yesterday, the day before and today."

"Yup." I closed my eyes let the wind drift across my face. The raindrops began to fall and I felt myself smile.

"You like the rain?" Brice sounded puzzled.

"I love it." I kept my face to the rain as it grew heavier, I let the droplets roll down my cheeks.

"Humph."

"What?" I looked at him in confusion.

"You really are a bit different aren't you?"

"I think a bit is an understatement." I laughed, turning back to the rain. My hair was getting soaked, it was turning dark brown, with bright blonde streaks.

"Maybe." He smiled. "Neither of us know each other that well do we?"

"Hey not my problem. You are the one that kissed me. Twice." I still kept my face to the rain.

"Okay, okay. Why, didn't you like me kissing you?" He said playfully, definitely playfully because he was messing around with a strand of my soaking wet hair.

"Hmm, no, I liked it."

"You had to think about that."

"I am aware of the fact. I was thinking about saying I didn't but only because I wasn't allowed to kiss you, and if I did, I wasn't allowed to like it."

"Right. Well, we broke those rules twice now." He pointed out, I froze, I could feel his breath on my cheek. He read my expression and backed off slightly. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." I said quickly, looking down at the water. I saw my reflection briefly before the raindrops caused it to evaporate. I looked like any normal human, apart from the one thing that had stood out most of all in my reflection, my flame red eyes.

"Okay, I know that's a lie." He folded his arms like a little kid, a little kid attempting to make me laugh. I just smiled slightly.

"I'm fine." I assured him. "I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Acacia." He told me, his voice just as dry as Edward's was usually.

"You sound like my brother."

"Which one?"

"Edward."

"Great, at least one of us is making sense."

"Are you purposely trying to annoy me Brice?" I snapped at him, I looked t him, I knew my eyes were fierce when he flinched.

"Calm down, please."

"Don't get on my nerves in future." I scowled standing up, only to be pulled back down by Brice.

"Don't go, please." He said quietly his eyes bore into my own.

"Why?"

"I don't want you to." He mumbled.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to go back, not yet." He told me, looking at his feet. I sat down by his side again.

"All right, I'll stay." I smiled at him, letting him take my hand again.

"Thank you." He smiled back, stroking my hair out of my face. "You do know that you have a really short temper?"

"You do know your hands a freezing?"

"Fair play." He laughed. His hand moved from my hair to my cheek, he ran his finger across it.

"Like I said, freezing." I shivered.

"Sorry, but I don't own gloves." He laughed, his hand cupped my cheek now, he moved slightly closer to me.

"Heh, I'm used to the temperature now." I shrugged and then I moved closer to him.

"You turn." He whispered, our faces were just a tiny distance apart now.

"My pleasure." I moved my face closer to his, moving closer until our lips locked. Brice's other hand cupped my other cheek, my hand rested on his shoulder. I felt his hand entangle itself in my hair, as the rain ran down my cheeks. I placed my other hand on the back of his neck. I was paying no attention to anything happening around me, only Brice, he was the only thing that I registered, before he froze and pulled away.

"Edward." He placed a finger on my lips. "I'll be back when he's gone."

"Promise?" I asked playfully.

"Promise." He nodded, kissed me on the forehead then ran into the forest, the opposite direction to where Edward appeared. I stared out to the lake as he came walking toward me.

"Hey." His voice dry as he approached. "You okay?"

"Hi Edward, I'm fine." I looked up at him as he stopped by my side. "You?"

"I'm good." He shrugged. "Are you going to come inside? You'll get ill if you stay out for too long in the rain."

"I'm fine. I just told you that." I kept my mind from Brice, not allowing it to go anywhere near me kissing him.

"Is something the matter?" He asked suddenly.

"I'm okay." _I said I'm fine Edward! What's wrong? _I snapped at him in my mind.

"Sorry." His golden eyes glared at me, they tried to penetrate the wall I regularly built around myself.

"Did you want something in particular?" I stared out across the sapphire lake, raindrops dropped gently onto its surface as they fell.

"Just to check on you." He said simply. The gold rings still staring grimly at my flame red ones.

"I think I am old enough to take care of myself, Edward." I looked toward him out of the corner of my eyes. He sighed heavily.

"I'm only trying to help, Acacia." He began to walk slowly back into the woods. "You might want to accept some help from time to time. We're your family; it's what we're here for."

I spun around to face him, but he had disappeared. I sighed as my eyes drifted back to the lake.

"You okay?" Brice's voice echoed from behind me. I felt myself nod.

I was feeling ill again. Why I always felt ill at the worst times was totally beyond me.

"Brice, what time is it?" I asked slowly.

"Nearly half five, why?"

"I should get home. Alice is going to make me eat something. Then I'm going to get some sleep, please, don't call me tonight." I paused slightly. "And I need to talk to my brother."

"Right." His voice echoed his disappointment.

"I'll call you tomorrow, I promise." I touched his cheek briefly before glancing over my shoulder. "See you." I smiled at him quickly before running off back towards the house.

"Hey." I stumbled through the door, greeting Carlisle absently.

"Good afternoon." He nodded to me. "You know, it really makes me wonder what you do all day in that forest."

"Well, you know me Carlisle, I can think of just about anything." I laughed slightly, as did he.

"Well, do you want anything to eat?" He asked.

"No thanks. I'm not really hungry." I told him, my voice firm. But then dizziness washed over me, I fell to the cold wooden floor.

Carlisle ran over to me, his movement to fast for my eyes to follow. "Acacia, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I lied, my breathing heavy. I felt it again then, as Edward entered the room, the dizziness took me again, only this time. It swallowed me. Drowning me. Pressuring me into unconsciousness.

I heard voices and it was only a matter or seconds before I knew I was in my room. Then I blacked out completely.

It was after that I felt it.

The worst feeling ever wash over me. Worse than the screaming.

For once. I knew what it felt like to be burnt. But this. This I imagined to be worse than any aspect of what fire could do.


	8. Let The Flames Burn

7. Let the flames burn

It felt like I was being ripped apart. I could feel myself screaming. Even that felt like a knife ripping through my throat. I felt like I was crying. Like my eyes were dry. I knew my throat was.

I felt like my blood was running through me at a million miles per hour, but it didn't make sense. Especially for that. I could hear my heartbeat slowing now. But the pain was still there.

It was like I had been stabbed in the heart, rather than my usual pain of being stabbed in the head.

Then slowly. Ever so slowly. That too began to subside.

I became aware of voices around me. A voice I could easily recognise was shouting at somebody. A voice that over two days, I could recognise easily. Brice. He was the one shouting.

As my consciousness grew, I realised what he was shouting about. It was me. Something about me had made Brice angry, I could hear him keep mentioning my name. Along with another voice. A smooth, calm voice which I did not recognise.

"Keep your voice down Brice." I heard the unfamiliar voice tell him. "You'd better keep your temper, she's waking up."

"Acacia?" I heard Brice say my name. I was so infatuated by the voices I did not even notice as the pain fully subsided.

I felt my consciousness regain fully. I slowly, cautiously, opened my eyes.

He was the first thing I saw. Brice. He looked as magnificent as ever. I took no notice of the other person there and leapt immediately into his arms. He cradled me softly.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. He placed my head under his chin and sighed heavily.

"How sweet." I then realised we were not alone, the voice suddenly reminded me of the second person. I let go of Brice and backed up. I took in my surroundings briefly. The room was dark, lit with candles, there was no other form of light. The walls were dark purple, the carpet as black as the night sky.

There was a set of ebony drawers in the corner of the room, a desk matching it on the opposite side. On top of the desk was a picture of me, Alice and Jasper.

Then I looked at the man before me. His skin was just as pale as Carlisle's. But his eyes, they were red, blood red. The crimson in them was unlike what I had seen in Brice's eyes. His contained something extra. But I eventually realised, it was not the colour that was different. His eyes contained more certainty, authority. More confidence than that of Brice.

His jet black hair was long, making his face appear even more pale. I couldn't help but be mesmerised by him.

"Miss Cullen." He bowed him head to me, offering me his hand. I only then comprehended I was sat on a bed, Brice sat on the side.

Reluctantly I took his hand and stepped off of the bed.

"Interesting." There was a hint of humour as he spoke. "You have made quite an impression on this young lady Brice." His red eyes flickered to Brice who immediately was at my side, in one, definitely non-human, movement. "And you my dear, seem to have made quite the impression on this member of the guard."

"Guard?" I finally spoke, then locked my lips immediately. My voice was already pretty musical, I had a voice that Carlisle had said was captivating. But now, my voice was different. It was still musical and 'captivating', but it seemed almost as though I was attempting to draw people to her, it sounded a little seductive.

"Yes my dear Acacia." The man nodded and released my hand. It dropped to my side and was nearly immediately grasped by Brice. "My name is Aro. I am one of the three leaders of this coven. This coven being the Volturi."

I felt herself tense. Brice squeezed my hand. _So this is why you were sorry. _She realised in her mind. He had brought her here.

_Not just this._ Brice's voice echoed in my mind. We suddenly looked at one another. "What just happened?"

"No idea." I admitted with a shrug. Somehow I had linked my own mind with Brice's and at that moment when I had, I could see everything. His hopes. His dreams. Memories and thoughts. I saw everything in his mind.

"Hmm." Aro's expression turned to one of thought and he touched my hand again. I tried my hardest to keep him from reading my thoughts. Edward had told me already of Aro's power. So if I tried, I should be able to stop him reading my thoughts again. "Interesting. Were you doing something that time?"

"I," I paused a moment. "No sir."

"Acacia. You seem to be aware of the volturi, and of vampires themselves. You have not yet realised?" His voice suddenly flowed with both authority and amusement.

"Realised what sir?"

"That Brice does now apologise for bringing you here, but for making you one of us." He smiled slightly as my eyes widened. "Do you not feel angry for him changing you?"

"No." I said firmly. "I-I..."

"You love him?" Aro finished my sentence for me. Brice gripped my hand tighter. "Than I should assume now that Brice has actually chosen a mate, despite all the offers he has had, he chose to wait. And he has ended up with you child, a prize worth the wait indeed.

"A prize? With all due respect I am a person. Not a prize. I am not something to be won." My voice had changed from musical to furious. My temper had always been trouble, but as I smelt smoke I realised I had to learn to control myself.

"Well, well." Aro's voice seemed smug. "It appears Alec's assumption was correct. A gift for fire."

"Fire?" I realised how surprised my voice sounded.

"I'll leave you two to talk. I'll be back soon, I wish to speak to our guest." Aro bowed his head.

"Master." Brice did the same. I didn't move. I just watched him leave. "Acacia."

"Shut up." I stopped Brice talking as soon as he said my name. I turned to face him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be like me. You were better off with the Cullens." His voice was sad, genuinely sorry.

I placed one hand on his cheek. "I doubt it. I'm with you now. I don't think I could be any better off."

"Acacia, I-" I cut him off by pressing my lips to his firmly. He tensed up slightly before reacting. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back quickly.

The kiss instantly got more passionate. I entangled my fingers in his hair, as his hands moved down my leg. He spun us round and pushed me down onto the bed. His hand ran down my leg again, beginning to remove my dress as I pulled him toward me again, firmly locking our lips together.

"Wait." Brice stopped suddenly, his body hovering above mine. One hand by my head and the other on my thigh. "Aro wants to speak to you remember? We can continue this later." He winked at me playfully. He stood up fully, and helped me up.

"What is it with that guy anyway? I don't like him." I said as I pulled down my dress.

"Aro is, well, complicated. But he is the master of this place none the less, so we all do as he says, especially us members of the guard." Brice looked away and tried to change the subject. "Hey, you haven't seen your reflection yet right?"

"No." I shrugged.

"Go look, there is a mirror in the corner." He motioned toward a floor-length mirror in the corner of the room.

I walked over and stood in front of it. I didn't recognise myself at first, but as my memories were emphasised, I recognised the reflection. Not as myself. As the girl from my dreams. Brown hair, with bright blonde streaks, paler skin than I had, rose red lips. Flame red eyes. That was the only thing that made me realise I was looking at myself.

"What's wrong?" I felt Brice's arms wrap around my waist as his voice echoed worry. "Acacia?"

"Are we looking at the same person? Because I don't look like Acacia." I answered sarcastically.

"You are all right then?"

"Aside from the shock, yeah fine I guess." I sighed, turning to face him. "Hadn't we better get this over with then?" I bit my lower lip, my hands

resting on my hips.


End file.
